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UK’s Most Beloved Comedies

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comedy, top comedy, UK, father ted, tv, funnyFor many years Britain has enjoyed something of an unparalleled reputation amongst global audiences for its hit comedies.

And with the global marketplace being ever more important to TV providers with the advent of new technologies, we thought we’d take a look back at some of the UK’s best comedies to see how they’ve succeeded.

The Goon Show

For many, The Goon Show set the ball rolling in terms of British comedy. Although it only featured on BBC Radio, it launched the careers of Peter Sellers, Harry Secombe and Spike Milligan as well as dozens of popular catchphrases that resonate to this very day.

Monty Python

And then in late sixties, six highly creative and chaotic individuals revolutionised comedy with Monty Python’s Flying Circus. The show lasted well over a decade and spawned many critically acclaimed films and is considered one of our national treasures.

The Young Ones

Borrowing some of Monty Python’s surreal humour and injecting it with a great deal of anarchism was the Young Ones. Starring Adrian Edmondson, Rik Mayall, Nigel Planer and Christopher Ryan, it signalled a new dawn for alternative comedy and ushered in a whole new wave of national moral panic!

Blackadder

Another classic comedy that capitalised on the new wave of alternative comedy stars was Blackadder that launched the careers of Rowan Atkinson, Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie and Tony Robinson. Ingeniously setting the show over different historical periods allowed the show’s subversive humour to blossom to great effect.

Only Fools and Horses

One of the nation’s favourite comedies has to be Only Fools and Horses that saw the hapless Delboy and Rodney in their eternal struggle to be millionaires. Although the pair never fully managed to make their fortune, they still regularly return for Christmas specials.

Little Britain

Signalling a new wave of comedic talent for the 21st century, Little Britain relied on an old-school sketch show format with catchphrases and instantly recognisable characters. But what really propelled this show to legendary status were the talents of Matt Lucas and David Walliams, and Little Britain has become so popular that it now has its own slot game where players can win impressive bonuses whilst being mocked by their favourite Little Britain characters!

Father Ted

And finally, one of the most unlikely recent success stories is that of Father Ted. This classic series saw three priests on the remote Craggy Island survive a series of surreal and hilarious mishaps that perfectly sums up the eccentricities of living a somewhat backwards parochial life!

 

 

First Supper Review – Theatre

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The Expeditionary Force presents The First Supper @ The Etcetera Theatre, Camden as part of the Camden Fringe Festival.

Sketch shows, especially ones on the fringe, are often filled with either gurning comedians constantly winking knowingly at the audience or a bunch of students throwing catchphrases and ‘wacky’ characters against the wall in the hope that one of them sticks and they’ll become the next Fast Show or Little Britain.

The First Supper by The Expeditionary Force fortunately avoids both stereotypes by assuming something rare in comedy – that its audience is as intelligent as they are. However, even if the audience was as clever as Mike Shephard, Jack Baldwin and Luke Sutherland, they’re probably not as verbose.

This sketch show happily wallows in obscure historical references, literary puns and fast talking absurdity. And, fortunately, it’s well written enough that you don’t need to know, for example, that the people who lived in the ancient Greek city of Byzantium did not refer to themselves as Byzantium to get the joke.

The gags and sketches are not your typical set up, catchphrase, punchline. First Supper often has no distinct ‘gag’ but instead, finds humour in the situation and performances. When Baldwin’s Anubis, the jackal–headed god, is introduced to the parents of his new girlfriend, it is his stoney-faced delivery of lines like: “I held her bloody heart in my hand and judged her,” that get the laughs.

The quality of the sketches does rely heavily on the performances of the three actors. Shephard brings huge energy and verve, while Baldwin, often playing the group’s straight man, offers beautiful comedy timing. Sutherland, however, often feels misused. He has an innocence that fits perfectly in some sketches, but when called upon to provide energy, they feel a bit flat.

And this highlights one of the main problems, not with the show, but with fringe show audiences. If the energy is not in the room, comedy like this suffers. It works on the premise that, even if the audience doesn’t get every reference, the energy will carry them along. If the energy falls, so does the comedy.

But these are minor quibbles. The First Supper is brilliantly written, laugh out loud funny and intelligent comedy.

However, this means that no one will probably ever see it past the sell-out audiences at the Camden Fringe. It’s too clever for mainstream audiences and too absurd for the Radio 4 crowds. But we can hope that this does break out from the fringe and into the mainstream.